A research programme has been started to clarify and support the central gas flow control philosophy of Hoogovens' bell-charged No. 7 blast furnace. Small scale burdening experiments and sampling of the stock surface during shut-downs suggest that a sufficiently high central gas flow is an important condition for maintenance of an ore free, highly permeable furnace centre and that fluidization of coke plays a part in its formation. On the basis of these experiments a hypothesis was formulated regarding the formation of an ore free blast furnace centre, but could not be confirmed satisfactorily. Forthcoming full-scale burdening experiments will provide a better insight in the burden distribution and its control.
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